


Your own heart that matters

by Heleentje



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: General Rito Adoration, M/M, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Paraglider, Selectively Mute Link (Legend of Zelda)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:42:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23343406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heleentje/pseuds/Heleentje
Summary: Link isn't good at talking but he tries, even when the future threatens to tear away his words.Revali is trying too.
Relationships: Link/Revali (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 32
Kudos: 421





	Your own heart that matters

**Author's Note:**

> I have very strong feelings about the paraglider okay.

Rito Village became a refuge in the early days of his journey, back when he remembered nothing and everyone remembered him. The Rito didn’t know who he was but still welcomed him with open arms. There he wasn’t the knight who’d failed at something he couldn’t even remember, but just another friendly face they greeted cheerfully whenever he showed up. 

He quickly found himself returning to the village, the cold of the Tabantha region more than made up for by the warmth of the people. Even now, miles and months further with large parts of his memory restored, he still spends the night there whenever he can. 

He stayed in the inn until Saki and Teba and later Amali and even Harth made it clear that he was not to insult their hospitality. Now he spends his nights telling Tulin about the monsters he fought or showing Molli the pictures he took. Amali teaches him how to cook the Rito dishes and in turn he makes her the recipes he picked up throughout Hyrule. She asks him about Kass and sometimes Link goes looking for him just so he has something to tell her and the girls. 

But some days, when the bright evenings are too much and the spectre of Ganon looms too large, he finds himself even higher up, legs dangling over the edge and back turned to the castle, Vah Medoh a protective presence over him. 

Revali remains something of a mystery to him. He used to take the champion’s dislike for him at face value and only the warmth of Rito Village kept him coming back. But now that he’s faced the memory of Windblight Ganon again (and read Revali’s diary), he wonders. He remembers his own admiration for the Rito champion and his envy at seeing him take off into the sky so effortlessly, unhindered by gravity pulling him down. He thinks Revali might have admired him too, in his own unspoken way. Once more he mourns the friendships he was denied. 

He is quickly running out of reasons to avoid Hyrule Castle. He has faced all the Blights more than once and he is unlikely to get more ready for the fight than he is now. But beyond Ganon waits another spectre: that of the life he led before. He does not like the Link in his memories. Now he has the world at his fingertips. He doesn’t want it taken from him again. 

Revali doesn’t always show up on the nights he spends at Medoh. Sometimes he does, baffled that Link chose to stay there instead of in the far more hospitable village. Sometimes he only snipes at Link before retreating to Vah Medoh. On one memorable occasion he asks Link about Rito Village.

Link isn’t good at talking and Revali rarely offers him the gentle patience Saki or Kass do. But he tries. He tells Revali about Teba and Harth and Amali and all the kids. About Fyson, who took off to Tarrey Town. About Kass, who always knows the weirdest songs. 

Revali doesn’t interrupt once. When Link finishes talking, the champion doesn’t thank him, only nods and disappears. But after that he shows up more often. 

Today Link has taken up residence next to one of Medoh’s legs, looking out over the Hebra Mountains. He has the paraglider spread open in his lap and is carefully inspecting every inch of the cloth for damage. He couldn’t stand losing it. The paraglider was his first taste of real freedom. Maybe this is why he likes the Rito so much. The sky has become his escape as it is theirs. 

He is threading a needle to mend a minuscule hole near the center when Revali appears. Link glances up in acknowledgement and goes back to fixing the glider. Revali only watches for several minutes, during which Link finishes mending and, satisfied that the cloth is now intact, turns to inspecting the frame. 

“You don’t remember, do you?” Revali asks. He doesn’t sound angry or mocking. Link can’t quite place his tone.

Link gives him a quizzical look before remembering to speak: “What?”

“Don’t strain yourself.” Revali rolls his eyes, but Link hears Teba scolding Tulin for asking too many questions and Amali drawing the girls' attention when talking becomes too much, and he takes it for the permission it is. He gestures, repeating the question.

“That glider. Do you remember how you got it?”

Link looks down at the glider. The king gave it to him so he could leave the Great Plateau, but he doubts that’s the answer Revali’s looking for.

Where did he get the paraglider? None of his memories feature it, yet flying with it felt as natural as holding a sword. The symbol is familiar. He has seen it in the village and at the Flight Range. It must be Rito make. Who else could create something like this?

“A gift?” he hazards. Revali sighs heavily. 

“Yes, a gift. If you don’t remember, that’s fine. You don’t need to guess.”

It clearly isn’t fine. That’s what tips him off. He gestures at Revali and signs his name for good measure. Revali looks away.

“From you?” Link insists. 

Revali’s feathers puff up in a way he can’t attribute to the wind this high up — the wind doesn’t affect him. It’s adorable and also means Link was right. He doesn’t remember receiving it. If he had, would he have been so put off by the champion? He clutches at the wood of the paraglider. It’s one of his most treasured possessions and one of the few things he would mourn the loss of. It saved him so many times. For Revali to have given it to him…

He opens his mouth, trying to speak. It’s so hard still, but this is a conversation deserving of words. He just wishes he were better at them. 

“Why?” he asks and he gestures between them, hoping it encompasses the full question: ‘Why you?’ but also, ’Why me?’

Revali sits down next to him and waves a wing over the glider. They can’t touch things, the champions. He has seen all of them long for the world around them. Is he trapping them here by not facing Ganon? Or are they grateful for what little of the world they can still see? He hasn’t dared to ask, afraid of either answer.

“It was a gift,” Revali repeats. Link waits patiently for more. “It was… Before Lanayru. We knew Ganon would soon emerge. The bowyer helped with the frame. You Hylians aren’t made for flying.”

It doesn’t answer his question, but Link can wait. Sometimes he thinks Revali finds words as hard as he does. 

“I don’t think you ever used it much.”

Link frowns and shakes his head. That can’t be true. The heedy rush of familiarity when he jumped off the Great Plateau, the rush of exhilaration and _freedom_ , it wasn’t the first time he’d felt it. He thinks he loved the paraglider from the moment he got it, for all it represented and all the freedom it offered him. He can’t imagine not using it. 

But he must have avoided using it in front of the princess and the champions, too afraid of their judgment. Revali must have thought he’d spurned his gift.

He shakes his head more vehemently. “I used it,” he says. He tries to convey how much he loved it, but the words fail to come. Revali throws him a sideways look. 

“So do you remember or not?”

Why is it so hard to find words? He raises a hand and brings it to his chest. “Not in my head, but,” he says and hopes Revali understands. 

And Revali does. “The feeling of flying,” he says, wistful. “It sticks with you, doesn’t it?”

“You miss it?”

“Does a fish miss water?”

Link looks away, stubbornly focusing on the lone tree on top of Hebra Peak. He couldn’t have prevented Revali’s death or Mipha’s. They reached their Divine Beasts before he made it to Ganon. But he still wishes, dreams… If things had been different, he wouldn’t have taken the sky from Revali. 

“It was a challenge,” Revali says. Link’s eyes snap back to him, but Revali isn’t looking at him. He rarely does. “I wanted to fight you, just once. But you couldn’t fly. It wouldn’t be fair.”

The pain of all that he’s lost strikes him with an intensity that leaves him breathless. He _wanted_ that. His eyes are stinging. He still wants it and he’ll never get it. 

“I accepted it,” he says, because he’s very sure he did. The idea of challenging this champion with the very wind under his wings, not as part of his duties but as a fight between… Yes, what? Rivals? Friends?

He wanted to be friends. He has no real memory of it, but he knows. From the moment he first saw Revali’s Gale. Here was someone who also constantly tried to prove his worth, who might understand. 

“You accepted it,” Revali repeats with wonder. The sun is rising. It catches on the downy feathers of Link’s Snowquill tunic but leaves no trace on Revali. “It would have been a great fight, wouldn’t it?”

Link nods. If he had mastered the paraglider, if he’d been able to go toe-to-toe with Revali… “I’m sorry,” he says. For forgetting, for not defeating Ganon, for never being able to talk to Revali in the first place.

He could now, if he could only figure out the words.

“I liked your Gale. When I saw it.”

It is wholly insufficient, but Revali’s eyes widen in shock.

“You did?” He sounds so much like a teenager still trying to find his own place, like how Link feels all the time.

“It was…” Brilliant, amazing, fascinating. “Free.”

“Free,” Revali mutters. He spreads his wings. “Yes, I suppose. You would strive for that, wouldn’t you?”

“I couldn’t say. I’m sorry.”

The Master Sword is a heavy weight on his back. He unsheathes it. Revali leans close to study it. 

“I don’t think you ever let anyone get close to that thing.”

Did he not? He could toss it in Lake Totori right now, but it would just find its way back to him. And besides, he cannot leave the sword. Carrying it feels right even if the burden it brings does not.

“I wanted to talk to you. I couldn’t.” 

The words are coming faster now. Revali tears his eyes away from the sword and actually looks at him. There’s surprise there, quickly overtaken by the same regret Link feels.

“Clearly, neither could I.”

Link mourns the lost opportunities. Perhaps… This is nice, even if it will never be enough. There might still be something here to be salvaged. 

“Why have you not fought Ganon yet?” Revali whispers. Link jerks back in shock, almost dropping the sword after all. He quickly sheathes it and folds the paraglider, throat closing up once more. Why hasn’t he—

“If you don’t wish to tell me,” Revali starts to say, but Link quickly shakes his head and gestures at his throat. Whenever he thinks he has the words in his grasp, they are torn away so quickly. 

Revali waits. And he is trying too, because the Revali of the past would never have been so patient.

“Scared,” he manages after several aborted attempts. Revali scoffs. 

“Of Ganon? You have done what we could not. You are stronger now than you ever were before. You can face him.”

High praise, especially coming from Revali. But…

“Yes. No,” he says. “Not… After.”

“After?” Revali asks. Then realization dawns. “You’re afraid of what happens after you beat him?”

“Don’t want to go back.” He has to force the words out, his throat like sandpaper. “I’m —“

“You’re free now,” Revali finishes for him. Link nods gratefully. “You really hated it, didn’t you?”

Link tilts his head. Not always, he wants to say. He liked being with the other champions. He liked seeing Zelda happy, on the few occasions she was. He wishes they could have known each other outside the battle. 

“They’ll probably still welcome you down there.” Revali gestures at the village. It brings a small smile to Link’s face, throat no longer clogging up. Yes, he can’t imagine Teba or Amali treating him any differently. They might laugh at all the pomp. 

“Kass will write a song.” He’s told Revali about Kass and the song he wrote about the champions.

“I suppose he will. I guess I could bear hearing it.”

He’d like that. He thinks Kass would like that too. But, “You’ll be gone.”

Revali is silent for a long time. “Yes. I imagine I will be.”

And there’s the question he’s been avoiding all this time. “Do you want to?”

“When I was trapped, anything seemed better. Now…” Revali looks up at Vah Medoh with fond eyes. “But you know it doesn’t matter.”

Yeah, he knows. He can’t in good conscience let Ganon terrorize Hyrule any longer. Zelda deserves much more than his indecision. But he wishes, he wants… He doesn’t want to give up everything he’s gained. He doesn’t want to lose this fragile truce he’s built with Revali. Ganon has already taken so much from him. 

“Look, you’ll be fine. Just take that thing and get out if they yammer on too much.” Revali gestures at the paraglider. “The Rito will be happy to see you.”

Link has the sudden image of jumping out of the castle sanctum in front of the royal retinue. He chuckles. Could he do that? Just leave everything and spend his days exploring Hyrule? Maybe he should learn to do the things he wants. 

Beginning with.

“I wanted to be friends,” he confesses. “Back then, I thought you might understand.”

Revali’s emotions are so easy to read. His feathers fluff up and he looks almost offended before deflating. 

“I did… too,” he says carefully, testing the words. Link smiles widely. Even if just for a bit, even despite all the time they’ve lost…

“Can we start?”

**Author's Note:**

> Any feedback highly appreciated!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Grow](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28101387) by [chromochaotic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chromochaotic/pseuds/chromochaotic)




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